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Bayern are “Christmas champions”, but they have a problem. The great interim balance of the Bundesliga after 13 days with six theses.
FC Bayern’s dominance is no longer as extreme as it has been over and over again in recent years. The fact that he is “Christmas Master” speaks for the team and the attitude. Still, he has problems. The biggest currently appears to be Leroy Sané.
1. If Sané doesn’t get the curve at Bayern, he won’t get it anywhere.
Leroy Sané has not yet arrived at Bayern. Rightly increase the pressure. Coach Hansi Flick replaced him after entering as a substitute at Bayer Leverkusen (2-1), that’s the worst for a player. And CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in the “one-two” in Sport 1: “We support all players, but we also demand.” Sané will be “kicked in the buttocks if necessary”.
I say: Sure, Sané has a history of injuries with torn cruciate ligament and capsule injury. But: He is 24 now, has gained enormous experience and played with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City for years. He is a national player and was the transferred king from FC Bayern in the summer. Sané cost 45 million euros in the midst of the crown crisis. You can expect a player to perform well, consistently.
National coach Joachim Löw had surprisingly eliminated Sané from the squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. It wasn’t just the British media asking: Why? Sané gave the answer himself in hindsight. The background was obviously concerns about whether his head was ready for the highest level.
Is your character strong enough to hold your ground under this pressure? Can you put your ego on hold and put the team first? Will you be able to use your phenomenal potential permanently?
These are questions that have accompanied him throughout his career. It is even more urgent that Sané answer now, with a yes. In that place.
Because this is now the most important phase of your career. If Sané does not triumph at Bayern, the curve will go down and he will remain an eternal talent. If you take the leap, you can have a career like Franck Ribéry or Arjen Robben.
Leroy Sané has only one way to achieve it: hard work. Ribéry and Robben did so. This is how Thomas Müller became who he is today. And so Robert Lewandowski became a world footballer. In the long term, zeal will not only defeat talent, it is also decisive in gaining trust: from the coaching staff, from teammates, from those responsible, from the fans and also from oneself.
This is accompanied by body language that I don’t like. Sané is currently broadcasting: “If it doesn’t work today, maybe next week.” As a result, he scores a brilliant goal every eight weeks and plays an outstanding game. But not every week.
I know what I’m talking about because there used to be players with more talent than me, like Sané today. But hard work and confidence will make you exude something that will earn you points and titles in the end. Namely: “Whatever happens today: we will win. Not next week, not the following week. But today.” Teammates, coaching staff, managers and fans take notice right away.
Sané has the best conditions at Bayern. The coaches and managers know how to accompany you on this rocky path. The bottom line, of course, is that he wants to do it himself. If Sané doesn’t get the curve at Bayern, he won’t get it anywhere.
2. Leverkusen and Leipzig can become champions, Dortmund cannot.
Two weeks ago I wrote that Borussia Dortmund still have a chance to win the German championship. After the games against Werder Bremen (2: 1) and Union Berlin (1: 2) I have to review that. BVB is now eight points behind Bayern and playing in such a way that it should look back instead of forward. The big problem is going backwards.
Mats Hummels witnessed the “unforgivable” defensive behavior of his teammates and denied them the absolute will to win. Then he exercised massive criticism from his teammates, as you rarely hear them.
Is a leader allowed to express himself like this? Naturally. Especially internally, then maybe also in public. But: you need inviolability status for this. And I don’t see him at Hummels right now because his performance doesn’t match that. He is partly to blame for the behavior.
Hummels’ primary responsibility is to improve defensive behavior in consultation with the coaching staff. If four or five people stand up front and watch what the binocular fender does, then you have a huge problem. The same is true when they neglect their tasks in the face of opposing standards.
All in all, this means that Dortmund is concerned about qualifying for the Champions League, and no longer about the title.
The situation is similar at Borussia Mönchengladbach. 18 points after 13 games are also a disappointment, despite great performances in the Champions League. The league certainly made more promises at this point.
In my opinion, only Leverkusen and RB Leipzig remain candidates for the championship title. They both impressed me with the way they withstood the stress of all three competitions. They both play great football. Both have a chance to become champions.
3. Wolfsburg may be the big surprise
With VfL Wolfsburg, Union Berlin and VfB Stuttgart there are also three clubs that are significantly higher on the table than most of us would have expected. These clubs do not have this multiple load like the other clubs at the top. And that can be a trump card starting in January. I still have a lot of confidence in VfL Wolfsburg. He is in fourth place with 24 points and can start between second and fourth at the end.
This is all the more remarkable because there was a lot of air between managing director Jörg Schmadtke and coach Oliver Glasner at the start of the season. Glasner had voiced criticism of the transfers, Schmadtke was upset about that. Fortunately, the two continue to work together successfully.
Equally rewarding have been the performances of Union and Stuttgart so far, both of which have acted aggressively and confidently, and therefore not as normal climbers or actual downhill candidates.
4. Khedira could destroy everything in VfB.
Of course, the VfB in particular always aims to establish itself in the Bundesliga. With an average age of just 24.3 years on the roster, that will be tough.
With world champion Sami Khedira (33), a former VfB player is already on the market and has already pointed out in the “sports study” that he can imagine a comeback. At first glance, one might wonder: why aren’t they bringing Khedira back? For him, things would close and the very young VfB would gain experience.
Personally, however, I would be very, very careful. The Stuttgart team has grown very closely thanks to promotion and shared success. The hierarchy and the resulting structure, also when it comes to salaries, could possibly destroy a Khedira transfer. And there’s another catch: Khedira hasn’t made a single game for Juventus this season. The question about their level of performance is fully justified.
5. Cunha or Labbadia: one of them has no future in Hertha.
In the cup, Hertha failed in the first round against Braunschweig (4: 5), in the league the capital club is 14th with only 13 points. The season so far can only be described in one word: disappointing. Instead of scratching the seats for the European Cup, there is the risk of relegation. One problem: the club obviously doesn’t know where it wants to go.
Proof of this: Jens Lehmann announced as a member of the supervisory board: “The goal is clear to everyone at Hertha BSC. And that means qualification for European football.” President Werner Gegenbauer then replied: “As an advisor to Tennor, Mr. Lehmann talks about Hertha BSC and not about him.” Tennor is the company of investor Lars Windhorst.
And now there are also problems for perhaps the best player Matheus Cunha. Coach Bruno Labbadia said after 1: 4 at SC Freiburg: “It pulls down, it doesn’t perform well, it pulls the team down.” I am not sure it is wise to make such a statement in public because it is the final stage of the climb. That is the worst a coach can say about a player. Cunha still has a future at Hertha? No, he does not do it. As a gamer, I know from an ad: I can clean my apartment and find a new employer. I will no longer play a role under this coach. Unless the club changes coaches …
6. Stevens has lost credibility.
Mainz and Schalke are worse than Hertha. So clubs that created their own problems. In Mainz it was the theater at the beginning of the season about the boycott of training. There were so many cases at Schalke that it is impossible to list them all. I will continue testing the most important of the current season.
Initially, the club had Ralf Fährmann, Sebastian Rudy, Mark Uth and Nabil Bentaleb in the top eleven in four players who had been resolved in the previous season. Then he sold Rudy to Hoffenheim, after all. Bentaleb was subsequently suspended and the boatman was temporarily pulled out of the gate to play again later.
With Vedad Ibisevic, Schalke signed a 36-year-old forward to replace the failed Guido Burgstaller. After a fight with assistant coach Naldo, Ibisevic was sent off again. They parted ways with coach David Wagner and it was a mistake to choose Manuel Baum as his successor. To top it off, Huub Stevens, 67, came back for two games.
A year and a half ago, he had discarded a renewed commitment to the club’s own YouTube channel: “I no longer do that. There will come an end and that has already come. I cannot help it.” Elsewhere, he confirmed, “This is definitely the last time.”
Obviously it wasn’t. And that begs the question: who should I still believe at Schalke? With all due respect for his track record and great successes with Schalke 04: Stevens lost credibility as a result. And all the sports leadership around Jochen Schneider as well.
At Schalke you have a lot of football skills available with former stars. You don’t use them. And then in the end, the responsible people have to turn their heads.
The decisive question at Schalke now is: Which coach keeps doing this? The question must be allowed.
I wish you a Merry Christmas and, above all, the best of health!
